Take Me Away
by xiao chan
Summary: AU: Michael's been trying to get Mia off his mind and move on with his life, but he just can't shake this feeling about her new friend, Chris McLachlan. And who's this new superhero on the scene? Well, he sure is hot...[sequel to Supergirl]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Michael, get up," Lilly shouted as she ripped my curtains open and let the unwelcome sunlight streaming in.

I grumbled as I rolled over and buried my head underneath the pillow. "I don't wanna."

Lilly, being the lovely, ever-patient and kind soul that she is ripped my comforter off my sore body and shook me viciously. "Wake up before I drag you out of this bed myself."

I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that she would do it, so I reluctantly sat up and rubbed my eyes. "God, Lilly, it's gotta be like, what, nine o'clock in the morning!"

She raised her eyebrows as she handed me a mug of coffee. "So?"

"It's a freaking Saturday!" I cried. "It's the Sabbath! God rested on the Sabbath and damn it, so will I!"

Instead of complying and letting me go back to sleep, she merely rolled her eyes and threw a towel in my face. "Hurry up and take a shower."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because you smell and I'm not helping you out until you do."

"What are we doing?"

Lilly let out a low groan of exasperation. "Michael! I'm taking you holiday shopping today, you idiot, because you're too stupid to do it yourself!"

Realization dawned on me. "Oh, yeah. That's right."

She merely rolled her eyes again and walked out of my room. "Hurry up, I don't have all day."

I grinned as I stripped out of my clothes, which wasn't much since I usually only slept in boxers. "Yes you do, it's your day off today."

"Yeah, but I'm going out to dinner tonight with Boris. So hurry up."

"Gross," I muttered under my breath.

* * *

"What about this one?" Lilly asked as she showed it to me.

I grimaced. "I don't like yellow."

She let out a frustrated sigh and said, "But it's not for you. It's for Cousin Milly."

"Well I never liked Cousin Milly either."

"Damn it, Michael you can be so frustrating sometimes!" She grumbled as she threw the hanger back on the rack.

I grinned innocently. "But that's why you love me so much."

She looked down at the list in her hands. "So you don't want to get anything for Cousin Milly?"

"Correct."

She crossed the name off the list. "Okay so…the only person left is Mia."

My heart twisted painfully at that name, but I went to great lengths to hide my feelings from my perceptive little sister. "Alright," I said as I walked off to look for something nice.

Of course, Lilly didn't buy it. "Michael, you never told me what happened between you two. Why won't you tell me?"

I refused to look her in the eyes. "I figured Mia would have clued you in on the details."

"She told me what happened in Edward's lab, but that's it."

So she didn't tell her about the late night meeting in her room. She didn't tell her about the passionate kiss that left me gasping for breath, wondering what the hell I was doing and what I was giving up. She didn't tell her that I confessed my love to her.

"How do you know there's something else?"

She gave me a withering look that would have made any lesser man actually sizzle with guilt. "Please credit me with a little more common sense, Michael."

I sighed. "We just…came to a conclusion."

"And that conclusion would be…?"

"That we could never be together and it would just be best if we forgot about anything that had ever happened between us."

Lilly sighed, but she knew better than to argue with me about things like this. Because the thing is, while I am incredibly dependant on her for most things, matters of my love life are to be left alone, even by her.

I looked around the sparse department store in frustration. "There is absolutely nothing that Mia would like here!"

"Well where do you want to go?"

"I don't know…did you get Mia's gift already?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you get it?"

"When I went on vacation to New York."

Damn it. "What was it?"

"A snow globe of the New York City skyline. I've gotta admit, it's really lovely." She said proudly.

Double damn it. "Well what the heck am I supposed to get her?" I groaned in frustration. This was way harder than I thought.

"I don't know. Look, Michael, I've gotta be back at the palace in fifteen minutes because I promised Mia that I'd let her help me get ready for tonight. I think you can find her a gift on your own, can't you?"

I grumbled, "I guess."

She smiled and quickly pecked me on the cheek. "Good boy. I'll see you later, alright? And try not to get yourself killed on the way home."

I stuck my tongue at her retreating back and spun around the department store hoping that some item might have caught my eye.

After another half hour of pointless searching, I gave up and made my way back home.

See, the thing is, I wasn't always this hung up on Mia. In fact, I used to hate her. Which now that I think about it, was really immature and kind of stupid.

In fact, I was hung up on Phantom Phoenix.

Who is Phantom Phoenix, you ask?

Ha, well it's a funny story really. See, I live in Genovia, a European principality that was once riddled in crime. Phantom Phoenix was the superhero that fought for justice.

Yeah, a superhero like in all those comic books that you read. I know, shut up.

I was just an Oxford graduate when I heard about her and all that she had done. I had aspirations to be a lawyer, and I knew immediately that I wanted to make a difference in lives, just like she had.

What's the big deal, you ask?

The big deal was that I didn't like Queen Amelia—our current monarch—because I thought she was just some lazy ass royal that sat on her butt all day ordering people about and not giving a crap whether her subjects lived or died. And Queen Amelia, happens to be Mia, the very girl who Lilly and I were talking about. And Mia, just happened to be Phantom Phoenix.

Here, I'll spell it out for you in math:

If AequalsB and B equalsC, then A equalsC.

If Queen Amelia isMia and Mia isPhantom Phoenix, then Queen Amelia isPhantom Phoenix.

Which threw me off in the end because, not only had all my preconceived notions of Queen Amelia and her lavish lifestyle melted away, I had kissed Phantom Phoenix and at the same time, had fallen in love with Mia.

I'm assuming that you think that this is pretty messed up too.

Wanna know what's worse?

Mia was marrying some jerk-off named _Edward_ because Parliament wanted her to. She thought she was doing the right thing for her people the whole time, but I knew better. Neither of us (and by us, I mean Lilly and me) liked Edward. We both _hated_ him, but we couldn't exactly tell her this. By the time I had realized my love for Mia, it was six days away from her wedding and she was kidnapped. When I went to rescue her, I found out she was Phantom Phoenix and I got angry and ran away. Then there was this huge trial thing and Mia got to rewrite the constitution and yadda, yadda, yadda…the point is, that I found out Mia was Phantom Phoenix and I got angry.

Why?

Because I thought she could trust me with her secrets. But in that bedroom scene where I had confessed my love and managed to break off a quite possibly beautiful and budding romance, I learned that she had trust issues that needed to be solved.

Plus that whole thing that we were from two completely different worlds and that it would never have worked out anyway.

I know you're probably thinking I'm full of shit, but I swear, it wouldn't have worked.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

But you know what the most annoying thing is? I can't get over her. I can never get her out of my head. My lips are _still_ tingling from that mind-blowing, _phenomenal_ kiss that she laid on me that night.

One part of me wants to forget her entirely and move on with my life. But another part of me wants to march right back up to that palace and kiss the lights out of her.

And the latter half is dangerously close to winning.

* * *

"Mia!" I found Lilly a moment later right in front of Mia's door. "Mia, open up!"

"This seems to be happening a lot lately," I said, slightly amused.

"Shut up, you retard, and help me open her door! MIA!"

I grimaced at her. "Mia, open the door before I break it down and we already learned that I'm perfectly capable of doing so."

Seconds later, the door burst open and Mia glared at us angrily. "What do you want? I'm in the middle of rewriting the constitution."

"You're gonna be late for the charity ball," Lilly exclaimed as she pushed her way through the door. Mia opened her mouth as Lilly interrupted with, "And don't tell me you're skipping out on it because you're _not_. I refuse to let you miss another social event just because you claim that you're 'working'."

Mia sighed. "Fine."

Lilly grinned happily. "Yay!" She cried as she ran to the closet in Mia's room, leaving me to stare at the girl that I had been pining over for the past couple of months.

Giving what I hoped was an easy smile, I asked casually, "So how's life?"

She gave a slightly forced smile and said, "Oh, it's pretty busy right now. A lot of work and stuff…"

I nodded pleasantly, though inside I was ripping my hair out of its roots. We had a really cool friendship going, and now it was like we were starting from square one.

Well, not necessarily. Starting off at square one would mean I would go back to hating her, but it's just an expression. I don't want to go back to hating her, because in all honesty, hating people is just bad for the soul.

Plus, now I know that Mia could totally kick my ass.

"Um, Mia?" Lilly asked as she pulled out a mass of white chiffon and silk on a hanger. "What do you want me to do with this?"

Mia glared at it and I feared that it might catch fire. "Burn it, bury it, shred it, donate it, I don't care, just find some way to get rid of it."

I felt my heart sink slightly. I remembered the day when she bought that wedding dress. When she stepped out of the dressing room, it felt as if the floor beneath me had fallen out and it was just her and me in the room.

She was a dream in that dress, and I regretted the fact that she was getting rid of it. "Oh, you might want to keep that," I blurted out, not really acknowledging what I was saying.

Lilly gave me a funny look that I didn't like at all. "Why?"

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. Just in case you end up getting married to someone else. Besides, you did look really nice in that dress."

Mia's eyebrows shot up. "Every time I see that dress, I'm just going to think of Edward, and I can't stand him." She waved her hand dismissively at Lilly. "Please just throw that away."

I shrugged again and said, "I'll see you later, Lil. I'm gonna go get ready."

Mia shot me a curious look. "Get ready for what?"

I grinned at her. "I'm going to the charity ball too. As the district attorney of Genovia, I have to put in an appearance."

She gave me a look and asked, "Why?"

I shot her a suave smile and said, "Hey, lawyers need good PR too." I gave Lilly a wave and said, "I'll see you later little sis."

"Make sure you comb your hair!" She called out, still deep in Mia's closet.

"Whatever!" I screamed back, trying to ignore the curious silver gaze that Mia was giving me. Mia's gazes could make the coolest of people crack. She could make Jennifer Garner's character on Alias spill her guts.

After all: she got me to fall in love with her, and judging by _that_, I'm pretty sure she can do anything.

* * *

"Hi, Michael," Bonnie greeted breathlessly.

Giving her a tired smile, I replied, "Hi, Bonnie. Having fun?"

"Oh, yes, I'm having a wonderful time!" She squealed. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. Poor creature, thinking that this was a good way to spend a Saturday night. She needed to get out more often.

"Michael!" Lilly called as she gestured for me to follow her.

Gratefully, I smiled and said, "I'll see you at the office, Bonnie."

"Okay. Bye Michael!"

When I reached Lilly, I gave her a huge grin. "Thank you so much for saving me," I whispered. "Bonnie has been leeching onto me ever since Greg hired her."

She laughed. "I hope you realize that my kindness is conditional."

I groaned. "What?"

"Michael, I'd like you to meet Sheila Berce. She's a social worker in the downtown offices. She's also a parole officer."

I gave her a look over. She was attractive, I'd give her that. She had auburn colored hair that was tied in a loose bun with wisps of stray strands framing her face. She had cream colored skin with a sprinkle of cinnamon freckles across her nose and her eyes were a light, pearly green color with flecks of brown in the middle. "Hello, Sheila," I said politely as I stuck my hand to her.

She grinned. "Nice to meet you, Michael. Lilly tells me you're quite the Star Wars fan."

"Uh, yeah," I said slowly as I acknowledged the fact that Lilly was quietly stealing away in the corner of my eye. "I've seen every movie about a million times."

She gave a sophisticated laugh. "I know what you mean."

The orchestra suddenly struck up a slow waltz and I offered her my arm, knowing full well that Lilly would berate me later if I didn't dance with this woman at least once. "May I have this dance?"

She gave another giggle and nodded. "I'd love to."

As I led her onto the dance floor, I noticed several eyes on me. Some were curious, some were just downright angry and bitter. But I tried my best to ignore them and focus on the sound of Sheila's voice.

She stopped talking after a while, then murmured, "My God, I can't believe it. She finally managed to put in an appearance to _something_."

I raised my eyebrows. "Who?"

"Queen Amelia."

My head shot up like a jack-in-the-box. Where was she? Sure enough, she was dancing with some head-stuck-up-his-ass CEO of a big name company. My heart clenched at the sight. And what was worse? She was _laughing_ at something he said. And not that kind of, oh-I'm-laughing-just-to-be-polite sort of laughing. It was a genuine kind of laughter. She actually thought that that son-of-a-bitch was funny.

Goddamn it.

When the waltz ended, I politely excused myself and made my way to Mia. She was still with that guy and I could feel the anger slowly bubbling to the surface of my emotional radar.

"Hey Mia," I said pleasantly, managing to mask the anger from my voice.

She turned and gave me a bright grin that made my stomach flip. "Hey, Michael. I'd like you to meet Chris McLachlan. Chris, this is Michael Moscovitz."

He gave me a bright smile that I distrusted from the very moment I saw it. "Nice to meet you, Michael."

"You too," I said through gritted teeth. "So, how did you two meet?" I asked casually, while reading Mia's every move. I knew she could feel my gaze, but she chose to ignore it.

"Oh, it's a funny story, actually," Chris said, his smile once again blinding me. "We were at the downtown bakery right across the hospital and I accidentally spilled my cappuccino all over her."

Mia chuckled at the memory and my fists subconsciously coiled into tight fists. "It spilled right down my crotch! It literally looked like I pissed my pants."

He laughed. "I was kind of scared to help her wipe it away because, obviously, it's kind of an awkward spot to put one's hands, and we couldn't help but laugh. After a while, we just went into a store and I ended up buying her another pair of jeans."

"I told him it didn't matter, that he could just pay for the dry cleaning bill, but he refused," Mia said with a grin.

"That's nice," I said with a force smile. "So tell me, Chris. What is it you do?"

"Oh, I'm a product tester for McLachlan Corp," He said cheerfully, as if completely oblivious to the cold vibe that I was practically shooting at him. "It's a lot of fun. I get to use a lot of prototypes that don't hit the markets until they pass the extensive network." He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a cell phone, but when he opened it, it was a mini-computer. "Like this baby. See this? It's a pocket pc with a hundred mega-byte capabilities and updated to every capacity. _And_ it plays MP3 files and is a cell phone. Unfortunately, this beauty doesn't hit the market for another ten years."

Against my will, I was incredibly impressed.

"Wow," Mia said as she admired the sleek invention. "That's so cool."

He nodded as he slipped back into his pocket. "So, what is it that_ you_ do, Michael?"

"I'm a district attorney," I said shortly. "You know, risking my life everyday, talking to the thugs on the street, not really knowing if I'll come home safely every night."

Mia shot me a strange look, but Chris seemed to be buying it. "Oh, that must be really difficult," he said in a concerned voice. "Bet the missus is scared for you, huh?"

"I'm not married," I said shortly, giving a quick glance at Mia.

"Yeah, no woman would have him. Excuse me Chris, I need to talk to the most eligible bachelor here for a moment." At that moment, she grabbed me roughly by the elbow and dragged me into a corner of the ornate ballroom.

"Okay, just what the hell do you think you were doing, Moscovitz?" She asked me angrily.

"First of all, you cutting off my circulation," I informed her irritably, and she let go of my elbow, "and second of all, since when were we on a last name basis?"

"Since you decided to be a total ass in front a friend of mine," She shot back. "I can't believe you, Michael! You can't be nice to one guy that I introduce to you!"

"Well maybe I would be nicer if you weren't _flirting_ with him shamelessly!"

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not _flirting_ shamelessly with anyone!"

"Yeah, then what the hell was that on the dance floor? You were laughing at every half-assed joke he made!"

"How would you know? You didn't even hear him!" Right then, a look of realization passed over her face that made me feel slightly wary. "Oh, now I get it! You're jealous!" She gave a bitter laugh that didn't sound like anything that would come from her throat. "I can't believe it. The high and mighty Michael Moscovitz is jealous."

"I am _not_ jealous!" I shot back.

"Oh like hell! Look Michael, if you really weren't jealous, then why don't you try and be nice to Chris? It's not like he did anything to you!"

"What if he did? What if I told you that he owed me two thousand dollars from his junkie days and he still hasn't paid me back? What would you say then?"

"I'd say it was your fault for lending him the money in the first place!"

"And what is all this crap about him '_accidentally_' spilling coffee all over your crotch? Who the hell does that?"

"What the hell is going on here?" Lilly asked as she grabbed us both roughly by the shoulders. "Everyone is staring at you!"

"He started it!" Mia shouted as she pointed her finger at me.

"Oh, _I_ started it? I wasn't the one prancing around with Chris!"

"I wasn't prancing you psychopath!"

"Both of you, SHUT UP!" Lilly screamed. "Now if you two will calm down maybe then we can—"

"And who the hell buys a new pair of _jeans_ instead of just paying for the damn cleaning bill? He's _obviously_ trying to get into your coffee-stained pants!"

"Maybe he was just trying to be a gentleman, unlike _some_ people!"

"I can be gentlemanly when I damn well feel like!"

"Which is NEVER!"

Lilly rolled her eyes at the both of us. "In case you two _idiots_ missed it, you're standing under mistletoe, and generally, people who stand under mistletoe don't argue."

I looked up and my heart jumped about a mile.

Mia gave me a cold glare. "If you think for just one moment that I'm going to—"

I didn't wait for her to finish that sentence. In a passion-fueled daze, I cupped her face in my hands and brought my lips crashing down against hers.

I felt her gasp sharply and I smirked in satisfaction. That definitely shut her up.

**A/N- So, I know I said I'd have this out in March...but I decided to put this out now...cause I finished it early. :-) I hope you like it.**

**If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in a _review_ and I will be happy to answer them to the best of my abilities.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Michael, can't you play nice with _anyone_?" Lilly asked exasperatedly as she threw a tomato at me.

I caught it without a second thought and scowled. "If this is in reference to last night, then no, I can't. And please, don't try to set me up with anyone. I can find someone to dance with myself."

"Oh, you mean by scaring innocent bystanders so you can dance with Mia?" She asked sardonically as she continued to chop the onions. "Honestly Michael, If you wanted her so badly, then why don't you tell her?"

_You have no idea_, I thought bitterly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was just having a pleasant conversation with the guy. Why are you and Mia trying to accuse me of something that I didn't do?"

"Hmm, maybe because you're a filthy liar?" Lilly shot back. She put her knife down for a moment and looked at me seriously. "It's so obvious that you two like each other, possibly even love. Why can't you two just admit it?"

I shrugged, feeling extremely uncomfortable with the subject. "Maybe we aren't. Maybe everyone else just thinks that we are."

"Who's everyone else?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay then, just _you_, Lilly."

She growled in frustration and asked, "Okay, seriously this time, what _really_ happened between the two of you?"

"Nothing happened," I said shortly, taking a knife and slicing through the tomato.

"Credit me with a little more common sense than that, Michael. Before the whole lab incident, you two were fine. Then after the lab incident, you don't talk. And now you're talking, but it's completely awkward every time you two are so much as near each other. WHAT HAPPENED?"

I shrugged, wishing for a change of subject.

She sighed, reading my body language perfectly well. "So…" she began, finally deciding to let the subject go. "How was that kiss last night?"

To my abject horror, my cheeks lit up and I refused to meet Lilly's eyes. "I…" I began hoarsely. "Um—uh, well—it—I guess it was—well, what I mean is—it's just—"

Lilly laughed. "Yeah, I thought so."

I glared at her. "Shut up."

* * *

Later that night, I was in my room, watching the first Star Wars movie when I heard a loud crash on the ceiling. I live on the top floor of my apartment building, so there's no one living above me. Curiosity overcame me, and I grabbed a black scarf from the chair nearest the window, wrapped in around me to guard my face against the cold night, and climbed out to see what the ruckus was about.

The sight that greeted my eyes made my heart almost stop. Phantom Phoenix and some weird guy dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit were on my rooftop. But that wasn't what concerned me the most; I was mainly frightened because Phantom Phoenix (or really Mia) was completely trashed and looked like she was about to faint at any minute.

"Give it up, Phantom Phoenix," the man in the blue hissed evilly. Neither of them saw me, a fact I used to my advantage. They were several yards away from me, and I stealthily began to make my way towards them. "No matter how much you really want to save this country, you can't win. You can't do anything to stop us."

"Yes I can," Phantom Phoenix replied, albeit in a slightly raspy tone. "Freaks like you can't stop _me_."

I could practically see the smirk on the blue man's face. However, instead of replying, he physically showed her his point and rushed at her while simultaneously pulling out a sword.

Well, let me rephrase that so you can correctly picture the scene.

The blue man turned into a huge blue blur that rushed at her faster than the speed of sound. While he did this, he must have had something sharp, because as soon the blue blur passed her, Mia dropped to her knees, clutching a deep red gash at her side.

Angrily, I ducked and made for the sweeping kick, causing the blue man to land on his ass. Glad to have a clear view of his face, I took a handful of his dark sienna hair and forced his face upwards. I frowned at the light blue mask that hid his eyes and the smirk that graced his thin, pale lips. Angrily, I threw his head down and kicked him in the side. "Leave," I grunted as I gave him another kick, "her," another kick, "alone!" With that last word, I kicked him so hard, he rolled over onto his stomach, his face in the concrete. Seizing the opportunity, I kicked him in the head which effectively knocked him out.

Making sure that he was unconscious, I wrapped the scarf tighter around my face as the wind blew harder. Quickly, I made my way to the wounded Phantom Phoenix who was drifting dangerously in and out of consciousness. Without a word, I swept her into my arms and decided to take the stairs to my apartment instead of climbing through the window as I had earlier.

When I got into the guestroom, I gently laid her on the bed and ran to my room to get the first aid kit.

Tenderly, I pulled up the tight material that covered her stomach. The sight of her bare stomach made my heart speed up and my soul cry at the same time. She had beautiful, cream colored skin covering her abdomen, but her stomach was not only marred by the recent injury, but with the scars of countless other injuries as well.

"Mia," I whispered, as I ran my finger across her bare stomach, shivers tingling down my spine. I think she might have sensed it as well, for she shivered too, despite her unconscious state.

I cleaned the wound as best as I could, but I had never been as good with injuries as Lilly was, so as soon as I had stemmed the bleeding, I called her and asked her to rush to my apartment ASAP.

When she finally got there, she murmured, "Oh no, no, no, Mia what did you do?" Gently, she pulled out her medical bag and began applying some salve. "What happened?"

As soon as she said that, I remembered the blue bastard that caused all of this. I swiftly ran to my bedroom window and climbed up to see of the blue man was still unconscious on the rooftop, but he was no where to be seen.

* * *

Holding up a bouquet of bright yellow daisies, I knocked lightly on the open door frame. The two girls looked up and gave a small smile in my direction. "Hey, Michael. Come in," Mia said.

My heart softened at the sight of Mia in her bed, her comforter covering the wound that Lilly had recently mended. "Hey," I said softly as I walked to the empty vase on her bedside table and went into her bathroom to fill it with water. "How've you been doing?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I suppose. I don't like being bed-ridden."

Lilly chuckled. "You have to. Look, I'm going downstairs to check on a few things, okay? Michael, make sure that she doesn't get out of bed."

As she closed the door shut behind her, I arranged the daisies on her bedside table. "So what happened?" I asked her.

She gave a sigh. "I was just prowling the rooftops like I usually do, you know? Then all of a sudden, I see this guy dressed in an _outlandish_ blue jumpsuit mugging someone on a street corner. Well I don't care how the criminal dresses, I just care about snagging the criminal. So I confront him like I normally do, behind his back, but he's one step ahead of me. Before I can knock him to the ground with a roundhouse kick, he grabs my leg and flips me onto my back."

My stomach clenched. I hated hearing her getting hurt.

"Then I pulled out my staff and tried to vault to the rooftops so I could attack him from above, but he follows me by actually _running up the walls_! I kid you not, he actually got up onto the walls with his shoes and ran up to the rooftops." She shook her head at this point, as if still in disbelief. "And not only was he a good fighter, he was faster than humanly possible and he had a sword. I ran out of ninja stars and I left my Sais in the lab, so all I had to fight him with was a staff. Well, needless to say, he was winning. We pause fighting for a little while, long enough for him to say something along the lines of, 'Give up, you can't save this country, you can't stop us', to which I reply, 'Yes I can.' Then he just smirks and rushes at me with his sword and stabs me in the side."

I raised my eyebrows. "What happened after that?"

She shrugged. "All I remember was someone with a black cloth covering his face coming out of the shadows and attacking that blue guy. Then he lifted me up in his arms and carried me away. I passed out after that."

My heart pounded wildly against my ribcage. "Did you see him?"

She just shrugged and shook her head. "No, the bottom part of his face was covered…but I know he was strong."

My inner voice was rejoicing.

"Then I just wake up here two days later. Lilly didn't tell me what happened, she just told me to stay in bed and not go anywhere." She blew a strand of hair out of her face impatiently. "Hey, Michael? Will you do me a favor?"

I held her hand in mine and looked her straight in the eye. "Anything."

She asked (with a sadly straight face), "Will you keep an eye out for him?"

Smirking inwardly, I gave her (what I hoped was) a completely non-fazed look and said, "Sure."

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Lilly said, as she rubbed her eyes. We were in my apartment and we were having another one of our heart-warming, sibling conversations. "Mia thinks that you're some masked hero?"

"Right."

"She has no idea that you saved her—"

"Right."

"And you don't plan on telling her?"

"Right."

Lilly nodded. "Okay…why?"

"Because…well I guess this is kind of my payback for her not telling me that she was Phantom Phoenix. And besides…it's a lot easier to be her knight in shining armor without her knowing it's me." I tugged on a black turtleneck over a pair of black sweatpants. How did Mia put together her suit? It must be extremely high-tech or something. "And besides, she asked me to keep an eye out for the guy."

"And you couldn't just tell her straight out because…?"

"I want to surprise her." I said with a childish grin.

"She's gonna be surprised alright," Lilly muttered under her breath.

I gave her another grin and held out my hand. She put a triangular-shaped piece of cloth in my hand and I tied it tightly around the bottom half of my face. "That's a bad idea, you know," Lilly said thoughtfully.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because what if the wind blows up and they see your face? What if the cloth gets wet and you can't breath? What if someone remembers you because of your eyes? It's well known that one's eyes are the most easily recognizable of any other feature on your face."

I grinned, even though she couldn't see from underneath the cloth. "You worry too much, little sis. I'll be fine, don't worry about me. It's too dark to see my face anyway."

She crossed her arms and frowned. "I'm only trying to be careful for you, Michael. I don't want you getting hurt before you confess your undying love for Mia."

I rolled my eyes and tousled her hair before climbing out the window. "Whatever, sis."

_

* * *

So is this what Mia feels like? I wondered as I helped a woman up onto her feet. She was being beaten and almost raped by one man in a trench coat._

"Thank you!" She whispered, tears trailing down her face.

I said nothing. I just flew away.

_Wow, if she feels like this every time, then I don't blame her for doing this_, I thought as I climbed up the apartment building in the cover of the dark shadows. _The adrenaline is addicting_.

Sitting atop my post, I waited for any suspicious action to happen before I made a move. I was suddenly attracted by a swift figure dressed in pale blue. This had to be that blue guy from before. Stealthily, I climbed down the building and followed him in the shadows, taking care that he couldn't see me.

I kept a good distance between us so he wouldn't hear or spot me, but I observed his behavior closely. It struck me as odd that whenever another suspicious character walked past him on the street, he would shy away or salute him, as if in awe of this figure. I frowned at the thought; he had obviously already made him well known on the streets of Genovian crime.

I followed him until we were way out of dull night light in downtown Genovia and cloaked in the darkness of the ghettoes. Squinting through the black, I followed his visibly pale blue figure until he reached a door in an alleyway. He knocked a certain pattern and the door creaked open a few moments later. Deciding it would perhaps be best if I followed him in at a more convenient date (after all, I was considerably unarmed and new on the night beat), I made a mental note of the building and swiftly made my way back home.

* * *

"What?" Lilly asked concernedly as I followed her around the palace.

"I swear, this guy's big trouble. Just the fact that he wears a blue jumpsuit and a mask is a big tip-off right away," I informed. "I've got a bad feeling about him."

Lilly bit her lip. "And you said it seems like he's already made a name for himself out on the streets?"

"Yeah, I've been doing some snooping at the prison and on the streets and all of the big criminals call him, 'the Blue Blur.'"

She snorted. "I never knew thugs could have such a penchant for alliteration."

I shrugged. "That's not the point. The point is that if this guy's already made a name for himself, then he's in on something big."

Lilly read my look and raised her eyebrows. "What exactly are you implying, Michael?"

"I'm implying that he set out a trap for Mia that night," I explained. "He staged that robbery that night so he could lure Phantom Phoenix."

"What?" Lilly asked, her eyebrows furrowing further.

"Think about it: Phantom Phoenix is the only one that would stop illegal happenings at night, and since this guy is _highly_ suspicious, she would be attracted to him immediately. She follows him to wherever he goes and he's got something _huge_ planned, and she takes them all out. So he decides to get rid of her early on, before she suspects anything else."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Lilly interrupted my explanation and began rubbing her forehead tiredly. "You're telling me that this 'Blue Blur' guy or whatever is a part of this huge conspiracy."

"Right."

"And he lured Phantom Phoenix several nights ago into this trap so he could get rid of her early on in the game so they wouldn't have to worry about her later on."

"Right."

"That's a really good theory, Michael," Lilly said honestly. "So if what you're saying is right, then they must not be that far ahead."

"Exactly. If we just keep a low profile for a while, then we might be able to catch them in the act."

Lilly groaned. "But the problem is that Phantom Phoenix is already high profile. No matter how good her stealth skills are, she's already recognizable."

I was silent for a moment. Then I said, "But Mighty Mask isn't."

She gave me a funny look, then asked, "Excuse me?"

"Mighty Mask. That's what I've named myself."

She let out a sputter of laughter and I glared at her irritably. "I know you don't think I can pull this off, but I think I've managed pretty well the past few days."

Still giggling, she replied, "It's not that I think you can't do it. I just think you picked an absolutely _retarded_ name."

I glowered at my laughing sister who was beginning to attract questioning stares. "Fine then, _sister dear_, what do _you_ suggest I name myself?"

She thought about it for a moment and said, "Well, how about Shadow Knight? Think about it…you dress in black, so you blend in the shadows. And Mia sort of looks to you like her knight in shining armor or whatever."

I thought about it for a moment. "Well I liked Mighty Mask because it's kind of catchy."

She gave me a raised eyebrow look and said, "Michael, which would you prefer? A retarded name that utilizes alliteration, or a cool name that doesn't?"

She had a point.

* * *

Before I had left for my nightly rounds (I'm so cool, I get to say that now), Lilly handed me a miniscule microphone. "You just put it on your finger and if you touch someone the slightest bit, it'll stick to their clothing and pick up any sound within a five yard radius."

The microphone was in a plastic bag and was no bigger than the ticks that used to reside in Pavlov's fur. Then she handed me the earpiece that went with it. "The earpiece and the microphone have a battery life of twenty-four hours. The microphone is activated once it's attached, so choose wisely when to use it."

I looked down at the tiny testament to our modern scientific advances in awe. "Where did you get this?"

She gave a smirk that I didn't like at all and said, "I have connections."

Lilly also hooked me up with some totally cool new gear too. Instead of just black jogging pants that made that funny metallic noise whenever I moved, she got me just regular black pants that were made of cotton which not only breathed, but were soft and completely noiseless. But why are these black cotton pants so special? Because through the miracle of technology, a layer of tear-proof spandex was sewn on underneath. While it wasn't bulletproof, it certainly took my mind off my safety when dealing with knife wielding psychos or axe murderers.

I pulled my tunic tightly over my shoulders and tied the belt to hold it in place. I guess my outfit now could best be described as the traditionally stereotyped garb of a ninja. Yeah, with the tabi boots and everything.

"Well I gotta admit, you look a lot more impressive than you did a few nights ago," Lilly said as I tied the mask around my face. "Thought I still disagree with your veil of choice."

I stuck my tongue out at her, but she couldn't see it. Without another word, I found my sword, attached it to my back, and climbed out the window.

That night had been a rather slow one. Nothing really happened and I was about to turn in for the night when a brilliant idea came to me; I decided to go see how Mia was doing.

In my Shadow Knight get-up, of course.

When I reached the palace, I stealthily climbed over the palace walls and climbed the trellis attached to the wall of the east wing to reach Mia's balcony. An annoying sense of déjà vu passed over me as I tiptoed on the expensive marble and opened the spotless windows. The night was a breezy one and the gauzy curtains blew to the side to reveal the sleeping queen in her bed.

Struck by her graceful figure, I approached cautiously and gazed down at her peaceful face. She was curled up in a ball on her side with a pillow secured snugly between her arms. A smile was slowly creeping upon her lips and she began to murmur in her dreamlike state. I leaned in closer to hear what she was saying, but I couldn't discern the incoherent mumbles.

Then, to my horror, she started to stir. My brain was screaming at me to move, to run out the window and jump down from the balcony before she caught me staring at her, but my feet refused to listen. Instead, I stood there in utter terror, watching as she sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes, shivering all the while.

"Why is it so cold in here?" She asked thickly, her mind still not completely awake. When she opened her eyes, she spotted me, then gave a quick double-take. Her eyes widened and she immediately pulled a knife from under her mattress. Seeing the total irony of this whole situation, I began to chuckle.

Annoyed by my amusement of the circumstances she glared at me with steely gray eyes. "Who are you, and what the hell is so funny?"

Setting my voice a pitch lower than usual, I said calmly (though my heart was pounding wildly), "Relax. I was the one who saved you the other night. I just stopped by to see how you were doing."

Her eyes narrowed and she thrust the knife forward menacingly. "First of all, you snuck onto private property and I could have you arrested for trespassing. Second of all, I'm fine, so you don't have to check on me. Thirdly, I don't need your help, so next time just leave me alone."

Slightly miffed, I replied, "Well as far as I could tell, you were passed out and you definitely did need my help."

"I could have handled it," she said through gritted teeth as her grip on the knife tightened.

"You should put that away before you hurt yourself," I smirked.

"Shut up," She said angrily. "Don't tell me what to do."

"That's not a particularly grateful tone of voice if you ask me. After all, I did save your life and I did take your place on the streets in your absence. Oh, and did we also forget the part that I seem to know who you are?"

Her face visibly blanched. "What are you going to do?" She demanded as the knife in her hand began to shake.

Fearful that she would hurt herself, I calmly stepped forward and gently coaxed the knife out of her hand and set it on her desk, far away from her reach, but didn't answer the question. I preferred to leave her festering away in her own curiosity.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

I slowly walked closer to her bed. "It depends," I said softly.

Subconsciously, she pulled the sheets tighter around her. "Depends on what?" she demanded, her quivering voice barely above a whisper.

I grinned softly, even though she couldn't see it. "Depends if you piss me off or not."

"Who are you?"

I leaned forward so my face was inches away from her. Her eyes had me hypnotized and the flowery scent of her hair was blinding the rest of my senses, but I fought to keep my thoughts afloat. "Now what fun would that be if I told you?" I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"As Queen of Genovia, I demand that you tell me who you are."

"You're silly demands won't work on me, _Your Highness_," I said mockingly as my face came in closer. "I'm above the law. As are you."

"There isn't room on the streets for the both of us," she replied, her voice coming out in nothing more than breathy spurts.

"We'll see about that."

"You're infuriatingly smug, especially since I'm letting you live."

"You're forgetting the fact that you can't get out of that bed. I doubt very much that you can cause me any bodily damage."

"Well as soon as I get out of this bed, you're gonna regret those doubts," she said. But though her words were cold, her voice lacked the conviction to make them believable.

I was seriously tempted to rip my mask off and kiss her. Instead, I contented myself with running my fingertips tenderly across the side of her face, starting from behind her earlobe and bringing them down below her chin. Leaning in closer, I whispered softly in her ear, "But my dear, if you're always protecting everybody, who's going to protect you?" And without another word, I backed away and climbed down the balcony before I did something that I would regret later.

**A/N- First of all, I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I had a billion projects for school. I'll try to make the gap between updates smaller next time.**

**Secondly, some of you might have some questions so I'm gonna answer the ones I think will be the most asked:**

**Question: Doesn't Edward and Parliament know that Mia's Phantom Phoenix? Wouldn't they try to tell anyone?**

**Answer: Yes, they do, and yes, they would attempt to tell someone. But remember, these guys are considered the scum of the universe now. So no one would believe them, especially if Mia denied them. They've already thought this out, so they haven't told anyone and kept it to themselves.**

**Question: Why didn't Michael try to follow the Blue Blur guy that night?**

**Answer: Deus ex machina. (Look that up if you don't understand)**

**Question: Will Michael have a more sophisticated suit/weaponry?**

**Answer: Yes. Later on.**

**If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- At the risk of sounding completely insincere, I AM SO SORRY! I really am, a lot has been happening and I just didn't want to write at all. Anyways, please forgive me, I won't keep you from reading anymore.**

**Chapter 3**

Coffee. Need coffee.

Now.

God, how did Mia do it? She was so chipper in the mornings, no matter how late she stayed out kicking ass. Maybe she was a robot. She didn't need sleep at all and she could just up and go whenever she pleased because all she had to do was plug into a wall and charge up.

I was on my fifth mug of coffee, trying desperately to keep my eyes open long enough to finish the contract that I was typing up. Heaving a huge yawn, I hardly realized that the door to my office had opened. When I opened my eyes, I found Bonnie staring at me intently with an idiotic smile. "Hi, Michael," she greeted breathlessly.

Oh, God. Why now?

"Good morning Bonnie," I said shortly, hoping she'd realize that I so was not in the mood for her right then. "Did you need anything?"

"There's a Chris McLachlan on the phone for you," she said promptly.

"And you couldn't have told me over the intercom on the phone why…?" I asked impatiently. Did she really have to waste my time by walking into my office and disrupting my work?

She shrugged, that stupid smile never leaving her face. "I don't like talking to you through that thing. It seems so impersonal."

I nodded while rolling my eyes. "Thank you, Bonnie." I turned to the phone and picked up the receiver and was about to press the flashing button when I spotted Bonnie still standing in my doorway in the corner of my eye. "You can go now," I said curtly.

Still not taking the hint, she nodded vigorously as her tight blonde curls bounced around her head. "Okay, Michael. Just tell me if you need anything," She said eagerly.

I rolled my eyes again as soon as she was out the door and pressed the flashing button. "Michael Moscovitz, district attorney, how can I help you?"

"Hey Michael, this is Chris."

"Chris…?"

"Chris McLachlan. Remember? From the charity ball a few nights ago."

"Oh, right." You're the bastard that danced with Mia. "So what do you need?"

"Well, I was going over some product testing with the company," I made a face that I was grateful he couldn't see, "and we recently came up with a wonderful little gadget that I think you might find handy."

"Really," I murmured disinterestedly as I stifled another yawn. "Chris, I need you to make this quick, I'm kind of busy."

"Oh, right. Well we recently developed a technology that can pick up on the pulses of the heart or the body without contact. It's amazing really, it picks up on organic pulses like radio waves and imitates them. We've put this technology in a microchip and attached them to the wristband of a watch, so you can feel the pulses yourself."

"That's wonderful," I said, cutting him off impatiently. "Why would this be useful to me?"

In a slightly surprised tone of voice, he said, "Mr. Moscovitz, you do know the nature of a polygraph test, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it uses sensors that pick up on body pulses to tell if someone's lying…" I trailed off, immediately understanding what Chris was insinuating. Suddenly more interested, I asked, "Wait, you have technology that can pick up on body pulses _without_ bodily contact?"

"Correct," he said in a smug tone.

"Wow," I said, incredibly impressed. "That's amazing."

"Exactly. And I really have no use for such a product, but it really needs testing because we think it might be useful for the rest of the world. And I was thinking all morning about who I think would be able to put it to the most use, and suddenly, I remembered you!"

"Wait," I said as I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's the catch?"

"Catch?" He asked confusedly. "There is no catch. The product needs testing and I don't have any use for it, so we've decided to give it to you. After six months, we need a status report, but I'm sure that you won't mind that."

Damn, I wish I had that product right now, so I could test it on him. "Right. Well, if that's all, I'd be really interested in testing it."

"Oh, thanks!" He said gratefully. "Where's your office, I'll drop it off on my way to work."

"It's in the government district," I said and I gave him directions. Afterwards, we hung up in pleasant terms. And against my will, I was starting to think he wasn't so bad.

* * *

"Hey, Lilly check this out!" I said as I pulled my at my sleeve and showed her the watch on my wrist. 

She looked at it with indifference. "I hate it when people wear their watches with the face on the inside of their wrists. It's so annoying."

"I _have_ to wear the face on the inside of my wrist!" I said excitedly. "You know why?"

"Why?" She asked disinterestedly.

"Because it's a lie detector!"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever, Michael."

"No really! Remember that Chris guy? The product tester?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well he called my office today and told me about the new product that his company came up with, which just happened to be this nifty little device. And since he doesn't have any use for this thing, he decided to let me have it, free of charge!"

She raised her eyebrows. "Wow, that's really generous of him. What's the catch?"

"There is no catch! All I have to do is write up a status report after six weeks and send it in. Isn't that awesome?"

"That is pretty cool," she admitted. "Though I can't shake the feeling that there's some ulterior motive. Not necessarily evil," she added quickly, "just, you know, stringing you along so he can ask for a favor later."

I shrugged indifferently. "I don't care. As long as I get products like this, he can string me along and ask me anything he wants."

"So how do you use it?"

"You just press the knob on the side," I showed her and pressed the knob, "And after a few minutes, it starts to send out little waves that pick up on body pulses within close range. Of course the person has to be within at least five feet of me because it can't send waves out that far, but when they do pick up on the body pulses, the watch has a sensor in it that will imitate the pulses and let me feel them."

"Wow, that can really come in handy."

"I know!" I said proudly as I waved it around like a three-year-old with a toy gun. "Maybe Chris isn't such a bad guy after all."

* * *

"Wow, that's really cool," Mia said as she admired the watch. 

"I know," I said proudly. "I guess that Chris guy isn't so bad after all," I told her as I sat down on her bed.

She gave me a grin. "I'm glad you see that he's a nice guy. I'd really like you two to be friends."

This was a weird subject for me, so I changed it. "I heard there's a new superhero on the streets now. They call him the Shadow Knight."

I watched as a strange look passed over her face. I couldn't tell if it was resentment or adoration, but either way she blushed a bright red. "Yeah? Well he's honing in on my territory and I don't like it."

I shrugged. "Maybe he's just trying to help you out. Not everyone is out to get you, Mia."

"Yeah, well I still don't like him."

I pressed the little knob on my watch discreetly, to see if she was lying. Sure enough, the pulse came back at about a million beats a minute.

"I sense there's another reason than him just honing in on your territory," I teased, but my heart was pounding just as fast as hers.

She bit her lip and leaned in. "Can you keep a secret?"

My heart caught in my throat as her face came nearer to my own. "Yeah," I whispered back.

She gave a cheeky grin and replied, "So can I."

I stuck my tongue at her and she did too, but I guess that was to be expected. I wasn't a girl, and these sort of things tended to be shared during hours of girl talk. No matter. I'd get Mia's opinion of the whole Shadow Knight thing from Lilly later.

* * *

"What?" I wailed. "What do you mean you can't tell me?" 

"Exactly what I said. I can't tell you. It's a girl-girl confidentiality thing."

"Oh, who cares about that?" I cried angrily. "Everyone knows girls can't keep secrets!"

"Well we can, so you better back off Michael or I just might never tell you anything again. Pass me the bread."

I handed the basket over to her and continued pleading. "Please?" I begged. "I swear, I won't let on that I know, I promise!"

She chewed quietly for a while, then set her fork and knife down very carefully. "Tell you what, Michael. I'll tell you what Mia told me, if you tell me what _really_ happened between the two of you after the trial."

God, Lilly could really pull a hard bargain.

I looked at her suspiciously. "If I tell you, will you let Mia know that I did?"

She put her right hand over heart and raised her left. "I'll make it my solemn vow not to repeat a word of what you tell me."

"And you won't be all like, 'the both of you are total morons, so I think I might help things along and play matchmaker?'"

"Not unless you give me reason to."

My eyes narrowed.

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, fine. I won't play matchmaker, now matter how stupid the both of you are."

Hesitating slightly, I took a deep breath and told her everything, about how I acted towards her at the trial, how she accidentally knocked into me that day on the street, and the midnight meeting.

When I finished explaining how I had let her go because of our differences she huffed angrily, but let me continue.

"And that's it. We aren't going out because we just weren't meant to be and now we've both accepted our fates."

"That's shit and you know it." Lilly said very calmly as she picked up her utensils and began chewing. "You two were practically made for each other and the both of you are too stupid to see it."

"How? How are we made for each other when everything has gotten in our way? How can we be made for each other when the freaking world is against us? How damn it!" I shouted as I banged my fist on the table. I had finally lost it. I was so damn tired of her telling me that I was in love with Mia (which I darn well knew) and that I needed to get her before it was too late when everything prevented it! It was like the cosmos couldn't stand the thought of a relationship budding between the two of us and it would do anything in it's power to make sure it didn't happen. Lilly was asking the freaking IMPOSSIBLE!

"The cosmos is testing you, stupid, they're not against you." She said forcefully. "True love is worth fighting for. You can't just give up if you really love her."

"It's not about me loving her. It's about her loving me. She's moved on."

She dropped the subject and we ate in silence. After a few more moments, I said in a hoarse voice, "You have to keep your end of the bargain, you know."

Lilly looked up and put her napkin down. "She thinks that Shadow Knight is a pompous jerk."

My heart sunk. "But," She added quickly, "I think she was lying because she was blushing and she did that funny thing with her nostrils every time she lies."

"What?"

"Her nostrils flare like crazy whenever she lies. She does it subconsciously, but it never fails." She gave me a self-righteous smirk and said, "Unlike some people, I don't need fancy technology to tell when someone's lying."

I rolled my eyes and retorted back, "Unlike some people, I didn't major in psychology."

* * *

"Michael?" Lilly's voice in my earpiece suddenly broke the mental silence. I nearly fell out of my perch but caught myself just in time. 

"What?" I asked through gritted teeth, slightly annoyed that she broke my concentration.

"Where are you?"

"I'm sitting right outside that building I followed the Blue Blur into the other day," I replied, my gaze never leaving the door. "I've been watching this place for the past few nights and the only unusual thing is big hulky guys walking in and out of the building with heavy boxes in their arms." Just as I said this, I saw five guys walking awkwardly out of the building. "I'll have to talk to you later," I whispered and shut out Lilly's voice.

Quietly, I crept down the wall and hid in the shadows until the five of them passed. Then, while the door was still open, I slid in.

Inside was a network of intricate technology. I saw people with welding masks and sparks flying everywhere, the product of blowtorches and raw iron. The dingy walls glowed with the fiery orange of a burning inferno. What seemed miles above my head, pots of molten lava passed along a track line, entering from one wall and disappearing in the other. Scrap metal was piled everywhere, and a complex system of conveyor belts snaked around the room.

While the glow of the furnace was still dim, it cast long shadows, and I made sure to carefully avoid it, lest my presence be discovered.

The walls were made of iron and probably fortified by something else like plaster or wood frames. I bent over to adjust the setting on my tabi boots. Oh, did I forget to mention that these things have electromagnets on the bottoms? I just have to turn a switch to turn them on. I tested the magnets on the walls and after making sure they held securely, I began to make my way up the shadowy walls.

I climbed slowly, taking in everything as my view continued its ascent. After climbing three stories, a catwalk that had room enough for one person to walk on it at a time hovering precariously above the workers and the passing pots of molten metal crisscrossed the dark upper part of the room. The railing was about two yards away from me, so I pulled out a sturdy length of wire with a grappling hook attached on the end and threw it at the railing. After making sure it was secure, I let go of the wall and climbed the wire until I could get onto the catwalk myself.

Suddenly, I felt the catwalk shake beneath my feet, and I held my breath, hoping that the vibrations weren't being caused by someone approaching. Slowly, they began to fade away, and just when my heart was starting to slow down again, Lilly's impatient voice screamed in my ear, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

If I hadn't remembered where I was, I would have jumped about half a mile. It took me several more minutes for my recovering heart to slow down (again, I might add) and answered tersely, "I'm in enemy territory, Lilly, and you're not helping with all your yelling."

"You're the only one who can hear me, why are you scared?"

"Your voice isn't exactly a welcome distraction. Hell, it's barely welcome."

"Oh, when I get my hands on you—"

"Shh!" I silenced her suddenly, feeling the vibrations beneath my feet again. Panicking slightly, I hoisted myself gently over the railing and held onto the ground of the catwalk. The shaking became stronger and I feared that my fingers might slip, but the man passed quickly, and the shaking slowly faded away. When I was sure that he was gone, I lifted myself back onto the walk.

"Can I talk now?" My sister asked moodily.

"Well I'd rather say no, but I have a feeling that's not gonna stop you," I replied wryly. I was hardly paying attention, though. I was too busy following the guy that had just passed.

"Listen, you need to get home right now."

"Lilly, I can't, I'm rooting out the place and I might never get this far again."

"Michael you dumbass, it's not like a video game where you get five lives before you have to start over again! You have ONE life and after you lose THAT one, you're screwed!"

"Just trust me, little sis. I swear, I know what I'm doing." But I knew she could hear the lie that tainted my voice.

"I'm giving you thirty minutes. If you're not back within that time limit, I'm going to wake Mia right now and tell her who you are."

A growl escaped my throat, making sure Lilly could hear my displeasure. Reluctantly, I switched the magnets on my boots and gently jumped off the railing. I hit the wall, but with nothing to hold me to it, I began t fall. Desperately, I tried to make the magnets in my boots make contact with the wall. Finally, when I was about three feet above a guy handling a blowtorch, the magnet caught and I stopped abruptly.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I steered myself away from the light near the workers and into the shadows.

"What the hell took you so long?" Lilly shouted when I finally climbed through the window of my apartment.

"Hey, quit whining, I made it within your stupid time limit," I said irritably while pointing at the clock on my dresser. "See? Twenty-eight minutes."

"Shut up, I was still worried."

"Well don't be. I can take care of myself."

"No, you can't," she said in a hard, steely voice, her eyes flashing dangerously. Damn, I thought with regret. I crossed a line.

"Sure, you can get through a night on the street," she began, a tremor of emotion clearly audible in her angry tone. "But without me, NEITHER OF YOU WOULD BE ALIVE!" She screamed.

The tears were what freaked me out. She was letting the tears fall down her face, instead of wiping them away furiously, refusing to let me see them fall for but a moment like she would in any other situation.

"Do you think it's EASY for me? Do you think I LIKE sending my BEST FRIEND and my BROTHER out on the street to dance with death every night? Do you know what HELL you two put me through?"

Forgetting my fatigue and realizing that my sister was in serious distress, I crossed the room and wrapped her in my arms comfortingly. "Shh," I whispered into her hair soothingly. "Everything's gonna be alright. Mia and I are fine, thanks to you. We owe you our lives and there's no way we're ever gonna forget that."

I felt her calm down, and after a few more moments, she gently pushed out of my arms and looked me in the eyes. "Michael, I'm pregnant."

I gave her a suspicious look, and asked, "It's Boris', right?"

Lilly gave me a withering glare and that's when I knew she was okay. "Yes, it's Boris' you ignoramus. This is just my way of telling you that for the year or so, I'm gonna be extremely emotional, and I am therefore, apologizing in advance."

"Oh," I said simply. I let go of her and stepped away from her, eyeing her belly meaningfully. "Thank you. That was very thoughtful of you."

She smirked. "I try."

"But I'm really sorry about being so insensitive," I said seriously. "I'll try not to worry you so much."

She waved her hand dismissively. "No, those are just my motherly hormones kicking in. I know you can take care of yourself. I'm just going to have to deal with the fact that you two can get hurt. It's part of my job. I had no right to freak out on you today."

"It's okay," she said briskly, getting into business mode. "So, what did you find out?"

Remembering my exhaustion, I peeled off my "suit" and fell onto the bed in nothing but a wife-beater and my boxers. "I got to see the inside of the building. It's a typical factory; nothing spectacular."

"What was in it?"

"They used a lot of metal. I think it was iron because the walls were made of iron. There was so much metal," I mused quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there were piles of scrap metal everywhere. The workers were blowtorching stuff and huge pewter vats of molten metal were being transported overhead."

"What do they need with so much metal?" Lilly thought aloud.

I closed my eyes, giving into the ache of my muscles. "I don't know. But I'll think about it tomorrow."

* * *

I hummed happily, content and warm in my favorite woolen green sweater and worn in jeans. I was sipping my morning coffee when the buzzer next to my door went. I got up and pressed the button. "Yeah?" 

"Hey, Michael, it's me."

Confusion crossed my face. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Lilly said I was good enough to walk, but I had to take the limo to your apartment. Can you buzz me in? It's snowing."

Coming to my senses, I pressed the button and ran to the huge living room window to pull the curtains back. She was right; white, soft snow was gently drifting down from the sky. The entire city was blanketed in it, giving it an ethereal glow. I took it all in, committing the image to memory because I knew only too well that the snow would only keep its luminescent white color for a day or two before it turned that industrial, dirty gray.

I heard a faint knock on the door and opened it. Mia gave me a careful grin. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," I said, just taking a moment to gaze at her. Her soft-spoken beauty never ceased to make the breath in my throat catch. "Come in." She stepped inside my apartment and I realized then that it was the first time she had ever been here. "Are you hungry?"

"Uh, no, I had a rather big breakfast."

She sat on my couch and I sat in my armchair. We watched each other silently, letting the tense silence get the better of us.

"Um, well, I just came by to give you this," she said, the awkwardness mirrored in her voice. She held out a package wrapped in blue paper with menorahs printed all over.

"Happy Holidays," she said with fake cheer, but a genuine smile.

My heart fell when I realized that I still had not gotten a Christmas gift for her. "Thanks so much, Mia," I said guiltily.

"I know you don't have anything for me yet," she said with a grin that shadowed what our relationship once was. She got up and walked out the door saying, "Take your time."

When she left, curiosity had gotten the better of me and I ripped the bright blue paper off the box. I lifted the lid off and my heart almost stopped.

Inside the white, nondescript box was a wad of black, strong, and taut spandex material formed into a shirt with a note that said in Mia's neat handwriting: stay safe.

**A/N- Firstly, if the second half of this chapter seems dramatically different than the first, it's because the books I've been reading lately have been depressing, so please excuse me for that.**

**Secondly, please also excuse my flaky updating habits. You guys have been so awesome with putting up with me, so please, bear with me.**

**Thirdly, I wish I could give you a date of when I would update again, but I can't right now. Rest assured, it won't be this long again.**

**Fouthly, REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - I know, I know. Omigosh, what's this? She's updating! No way! For the record, I'm not dead. I just want you guys to know how terribly sorry I am and what a bad updater I am for my Princess Diaries stories, but no matter what, I'M NOT GIVING UP ON THEM. So rest assured, they will be finished. Maybe not in the near future, but they will be finished. I swear.**

**Chapter 4**

"Come on, Michael, you're just being paranoid," Lilly said dismissively. She was flipping through a magazine nonchalantly, as if I didn't have any real concerns that, oh, I don't know, might threaten my mental well-being, as well as my dignity.

"I swear, Lilly, she knows!" I cried as I nearly ripped the hair out of my scalp. "It said clearly, 'stay safe' and she gave me the perfect shirt to complete my suit!"

"I just think all of this is getting to you," she responded with absolutely no urgency. "Don't worry, Michael, going insane comes with the territory."

"I'm not insane!" I screamed.

"Whatever."

"I'M NOT!"

"Um, was this a bad time?"

I turned around and found Chris McLachlan standing in the doorway of my office. "Hey, Chris," I said as cheerfully as I could. "And no, this isn't a bad time, we always argue. I assume you've already met Lilly Moscovitz, my sister?"

He nodded and flashed her a friendly smile. "Yeah, I met her at the night of the charity ball. Hi, Lilly."

She nodded dismissively and looked back down at her magazine.

"Can I help you, Chris?"

"Uh, yeah, I just came over to deliver another product we need testing." He pulled out a silver-colored little gadget out of his pocket. "This is a wonderfully nifty little gizmo that straps onto your wrists and gives a shoot of adrenaline into your bloodstream when you need an extra little push for energy."

"Cool!" I exclaimed as I took the object out of his hands. "How do you put it on?"

"Well you put it on like—"

"Thanks, Chris," Lilly interrupted firmly as she forcibly turned him around by his shoulders and pushed him out the door. "I think we can handle it from here."

"Are you sure?" He asked concernedly. "I think—"

"Bye, Chris," Lilly interrupted.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted. "Don't push him out—"

"Too late," She said grimly as she shut the door and locked it.

I glared at her angrily. "What do you think you're doing? He was showing me how to work this thing!"

She rolled her eyes. "Are you insane? Do you know how dangerous adrenaline injections can be?"

"How dangerous?" I shot. "Please inform me, oh paramedic sister of mine?"

"Well for one, you could overdose, get a heart attack and _die_," she retorted.

"I'm sure this thing would prevent and overdose," I scoffed. She was seriously way too worrisome sometimes.

"Michael, why would you need this gadget?"

I looked at her incredulously. "Have you lost your mind? Or have you just forgotten what my new hobby has been for the past few nights? Did you think I was out _bowling_ with my _work mates_? Just how _dense_ can you _be_?"

"You idiot!" She screamed. "How the _hell_ would Chris know what you've been doing for the past few nights?"

I froze, her words shocking me to the core.

"Yeah, who's thinking now?" She growled angrily. "Think carefully, Michael. How the _hell_ would he know that this object would be of any use to you?"

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. "Maybe he thought that a lawyer would need it."

She shook her head. "I don't know what he thinks he's playing at, and I don't know what _you_ think you're playing at, but you are definitely NOT using this thing, or any other gadget he happens to give you."

"What about the watch?"

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"But—"

"NO."

* * *

I didn't care what she said, I was using the watch and there was no way she was gonna take it from me.

But what she said really did make me think. If I truly believed in conspiracy theories, I would say that Chris was doing all of this to make me look bad in front of Mia, just so he could get her all to himself, but now that I seem to have taken a liking to the little guy, I can't possibly think he's all that bad. I'd punch his face in if he ever tried to lay a move on her, but he's nice enough.

I walked down the cold, blistery streets of downtown Genovia, wrapping my scarf tightly around my face. As I walked, I glanced though the windows of various stores and shops, looking for something to give to Mia for Christmas.

Did Mia and Chris really know? Did Mia know first and share it with Chris? Did she find out from Lilly, then tell Chris to make some gadgets that wouldn't harm me or anything? If she did, that was awfully nice of her.

Suddenly, something in a nearby window caught my eye. And I remembered the annual Holiday Masquerade that was only a few weeks away.

A sinister idea was beginning to form in my mind.

* * *

"So, whaddya think?" I asked as I pulled the mass of icy blue material out of the box and twirled it around before Lilly.

She took one look at it and paled. "Oh, God, please tell me you're not gay."

I gave her a withering look. "The dress isn't for me, stupid, it's for Mia."

She regained the color in her face and adopted a curious look instead. "It's pretty. But why are you giving this to Mia?"

"Remember the annual Holiday Masquerade?"

"Yeah…" her eyes widened in realization and grinned. "Michael, that is the first good idea you've had in a long time."

"Why thank—wait, what do you mean in a long time?"

"It's almost time to roll. I have to get back to the palace 'cause Mia's gonna be working tonight. I'll still have the communicator that links to you, okay? But I just can't talk to you as often."

"She's gonna be back on the streets?" I said worriedly. "Will she be alright?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "She's a superhero, of course she won't be alright. She could _die_, but she's perfectly up to the challenge."

"I meant if she's healthy enough, stupid."

"She thinks she is," Lilly replied with a shrug. "I should be going. What do you plan on doing tonight?"

"I was thinking of going back to the factory."

She bit her lip. "I don't think that's a good idea, Michael. I know you want to catch this Blue Blur guy, but—"

"I'll be fine, little sis. Just take care of Mia for me, alright?"

* * *

"Just where do you think you're going?" I heard a voice down in the alleyway and I crept up to the edge of the building to see what was going on. There was a big, bulky man cornering a smaller guy. But right behind him, Phantom Phoenix grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him against the wall.

"He's trying to get away from you, stupid, in case you didn't realize," she said coldly. She turned to face the little guy, but I could almost see the shock register across her features when the he brought out a gun.

"Thanks, but I didn't need your help Phantom Phoenix," he spat out vehemently. Sensing trouble, I quietly crawled down. Phantom Phoenix hadn't let go of the man she was holding, but she was staring coldly down the gun's barrel that was being aimed at her.

The man she was holding began to chuckle. "You're so easily fooled, Phantom Phoenix. You really need to reevaluate of some people need saving or not." Suddenly, the little guy rushed at Phantom Phoenix and the man she was holding twisted out of her grip, but I was already on the ground. In a swift movement, I launched myself at the smaller one and threw him in the guy that was about to attack Phantom Phoenix with the knife.

Both stood up, confused and sore, only to stare at me with utter contempt. The bigger one rushed at me while the smaller one took care of Phantom Phoenix. Luckily, the guy attacking me had no sense of balance whatsoever. As he came charging at me, I quickly ducked, punched him in the gut, and threw him into the side of a nearby building. When the fact that he never caused me any harm registered in his miniscule little brain, he struggled to get up and went at me again, but I caught him with a quick punch in the chest, effectively winding him. It seemed almost pointless, dragging out the battle like this, so I dug my index and middle finger into the meaty flesh between his neck and jaw bone, cutting off his air supply and knocking him out.

I looked up and saw Phantom Phoenix standing over her guy, facing me. Even though her eyes were covered with her mask, I could tell she was glaring at me. "I didn't need your help," she growled.

"Um, from where I was standing, yeah you did."

"Then get your eyes checked," she shot as she pulled out he Bo staff and prepared to scale a nearby wall.

I panicked a little. I couldn't let her run off without getting some answers, so I ran up to her and grabbed hold of her ankle before she could get very far.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted.

"I have some questions," I told her simply, not releasing my vice-like grip.

"Well forget it." She tried wriggling out of my grasp, but it didn't work. She might have been a better, more experienced fighter than me, but I was still stronger. "Let me go."

"No," I said simply. "I'm not letting you go until I get answers."

She sighed, realizing that we were going in circles. "What do you want to know?"

"Have you been following this Blue Blur guy too?" I asked. That was the number one question on my mind.

She shook her head. "No. I haven't been on the streets in a while, so I decided to start off small before I went onto the bigger fish. Why?" I hadn't realized I let go of her ankle at this point, but it didn't matter. She wasn't going anywhere. "Do you know anything about it?"

"I've been following him for a few nights now," I began, "back to this factory and I managed to sneak in and the place was filled with metal. There was molten iron, the walls were made of corrugated metal, chains, scrap, just everywhere. Can you think of a reason why that may be?"

She thought for a little while before shaking her head. "No. I couldn't tell you."

I sighed. "Okay then." I was prepared to climb up one of the fire escapes when she grabbed my arm.

"Not so fast," she said in a husky voice that made my heart pound. "I have a few questions myself."

I smirked, though she couldn't see it behind my face mask. "What makes you think I'll answer them?"

She pushed me by the shoulders up against one of the brick wall. Her body was pressed against mine and all of a sudden breathing was very difficult. "Please?" she whispered against my neck, her lips just a hair's width from touching my skin.

Damn it.

"What do you want to know?" I asked with more breath than sound.

"Why did you come to my bedroom the other night?" she asked as her hands traveled up my chest, her fingers trailing fire on my skin through the thin, skin-tight material of my suit.

"Because word on the street was you were lonely," I replied with some difficulty. It was hard to think when she was touching me like that.

"And you wanted to keep me company?" she asked, her mouth now against my ear. I swear, this woman would be the death of me.

"Something like that."

She trailed her nose down my jaw line and to the sensitive skin underneath my chin, making sure to breathe on every inch of my skin. I knew she was getting her revenge for when I was in her bedroom, and she was enjoying torturing me like this. "Oh, Shadow Knight," she chuckled, the sound coming from her throat. "I hardly deserve the honor."

I was seconds from ripping my mask off and kissing her. She must have sensed my waning control for she, very slowly, began to back away. "I'm sure I'll see you again." And without another word, she leapt up and began to scale the brick wall.

It took me a little while to get my heartbeat under control. Mia really did know how to push my buttons, how to drive me crazy the way no one else could.

"Um, why did you break up with her again?" Lilly's voice sounded in my ear, bringing me back to reality. I rolled my eyes when I realized that she had probably heard and seen the whole thing from Mia's point of view.

"Shut up," I muttered as I began climbing the fire escape.

She chuckled. "Oh, and for the record? The score stands at one to one."

**A/N - I know it's been awhile, but I'm still a review whore. Please, please review.**


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